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Simon Bowkett, Exeter CVS, BIG Assist conf 2016
- 1. Inertia is not an option Changes in commissioning and cross-sector working Simon Bowkett Chief Executive Officer @SimonExCVS / @ExeterCVS
- 5. “The infrastructure of the future is likely to be a much leaner enabler, broker and catalyst rather than necessarily a deliverer… …Above all, it needs to help the sector with foresight and managing change, because the pace of change is not going to slow”
- 14. Any Questions?
Editor's Notes
- At Exeter CVS we have been predicting the demise of local public service delivery since 2010… Finally, (and perhaps more worryingly) local public service commissioners and providers have started to publicly agree!
- Many may be familiar with the “Barnet Graph of Doom” that shows that as resources diminish, local authorities’ ability to keep up with rising demands on their statutory duties like older peoples’ care, safeguarding and education will be come increasingly challenged – and other functions (including repairing potholes!) will become less of a priority…
- Commissioners across a range of strategic strands are not going to be able to square the circles of rising demands with diminishing resources in their traditional commissioning models. Whether the health demands and growing isolation of an ageing population, the provision of “non-essential” community services such as libraries and youth centres, or community safety and tackling reoffending at a time that neighbourhood policing is being eroded – the challenges commissioners face are not just operational – they are systemic, and structural.
- Infrastructure organisations have an opportunity to emerge in a new role – as “enablers, brokers and catalysts” – as hosts of new conversations, conveners of co-design processes, and independent facilitators of policy and strategy debates. But to achieve that we must first be credible as people who can read the changing landscape, and “interpret” what we see – and helping to germinate a social action response…
- I like to think of VCSE infrastructure organisations like ours as the “Sherpas” of public service delivery and community action – helping the British establishment find new paths and explore new landscapes, where we do the heavy lifting, take the greatest risks, get paid less, and are seen as expendable - and they get the credit at the end!
- Endlessly salami-slicing services is no longer an option. We have an opportunity to model innovative and enterprising approaches to a public sector that is traditionally risk-averse. If – collectively – we do nothing, then public services will start to fail, and our communities will be failed.
- There are no easy answers. The social challenges that are emerging are complex, and inter-sectional – so they will require responses that are equally complex, delivered through coordinated action, coproduction and collaboration across disciplines, organisations and sectors.
- We have found the best way to achieve that is to engage with commissioners and policy-makers – to build trusted relationships – and to ask, quite simply, “What is it that keeps you awake at night?” The perception of our sector is often that we are there to ask for money – for what’s in it for us. At Exeter CVS we start by asking leaders what their challenges and concerns are – and start with how we might begin to work together on finding a solution… We’ve been asked what happens if a commissioner / civic leader won’t engage. We have a simple answer….
- Keep waiting! Sooner is better than later, but eventually the drivers for change will become apparent even to the most “stuck” civil servant! Make sure that when they have their lightbulb moment, you are there to work with them… (and not saying “we told you so!”)
- Kotter’s “8 Stages of Organisational Change” (as set out in his fantastic parable, “Help! Our Iceberg is Melting” gives a great guide to managing system change as well as organisational change. The urgency is becoming ever-more apparent already! Building the guiding team is critical – get people around you that are ready to work to you, and share a similar value set. Don’t necessarily wait to assemble the whole, perfect team before you start *something*, though – others will follow… And in the last stage – don’t underestimate the power of culture, or how long it takes to change…!
- …Culture lasts longer than structure; and people are more loyal to culture.
- Finally – do SOMETHING. There is almost universal bewilderment out there… people are looking for leadership, and a shared journey is less scary (and more of an adventure) than going it alone. Take a chance, and try things… they just might work…
- There was resistance from some who still see the VCSE sector as inherently too risky – but we liken it to standing in the window of a burning building and risk-assessing the fireman’s ladder. The status quo in public service delivery is unsustainable – new solutions actually carry less risk than doing nothing.